I welcome the announcement by the Transport Minister YB Loke Siew Fook in implementing additional flights in collaboration with AirAsia during festive seasons especially the upcoming Chinese New Year to address the problem of high-ticket prices especially to Sabah and Sarawak.
In response to the questions I have brought up in Parliament, they have now added an additional flight every midnight (7 days before CNY and 7 days after CNY) and have fixed the prices for all those flights to make sure it is reasonable and will not be a heavy burden to the people especially those that intend to travel back home to be with the families during the festive season.
Extra late night flight with fixed fares starting from RM99 KL – Penang, RM 149 KL – Kuching / Sibu / Miri, RM 199 KL – KK for 14 days. These fares however are only available for this extra midnight flight. On top of that, according to our Transportation Minister, Air Asia is also planning on introducing these extra late-night fixed fare flights for other festive seasons such as Hari Raya and Hari Gawai.
This is an issue that I have been fighting for and raised up multiple times in Parliament since I was elected in 2013. This issue has been burdening the people for many years and there were even reports how domestic flight ticket prices could increase as high as five-fold during festive seasons.
However, the issue wasn’t properly addressed under the previous government but now that there is a change of government, the new Pakatan Harapan Government has taken proactive steps to address this problem that having burdening the people especially those from East Malaysia working in Peninsular.
While there are more routes and issues that still have to be resolved including flights out of states like Johor or Penang to East Malaysia, but this is a good first step in addressing the issue and the Minister has given his assurance that they will look into these additional routes in the future. I will also keep monitoring and following up on the matter to make sure the prices are reasonable during each festive season.
Based on studies done, the implementation of a ceiling price for domestic flights especially during festive seasons may have an adverse effect on the people as it may cause the average prices of tickets to increase especially during off seasons. Thus, the best way to address the issue is to encourage competition and to increase flight frequency especially during peak seasons to keep the prices competitive and reasonable.
I also hope more airlines will follow along and also increase the frequency of their flights especially during these festive seasons and keep their prices competitive for the interest and convenience of the people and to remove any obstacles for them to spend quality time with their respective families especially during the festive seasons.